Episode Details
Back to Episodes
Big BOAT Interview: How Ocean Bottle's co-founder went from superyacht deckhand to building a global ocean plastic clean-up operation
Description
Alternative propulsion and energy-efficient onboard systems tend to dominate the sustainability conversation in the superyacht industry – but while these remain vital, how often do we stop to consider the industry's own hand in ocean plastic pollution? In this Big BOAT Interview, BOAT International's commercial content editor Hannah Rankine sits down with Will Pearson, co-founder of Ocean Bottle, the B Corp-certified reusable drinkware brand that funds the collection of ocean-bound plastic with every purchase while supporting local communities along the way.
Pearson founded Ocean Bottle at just 23 years old, but the idea was born years earlier while working on board a superyacht, where he witnessed severe ocean plastic pollution first-hand - some of it contributed by the very yacht he worked on. In this conversation, he traces that journey from the deck to building a global plastic collection operation, and shares his view on what the superyacht industry can do to lessen its plastic footprint and safeguard the ocean playground it depends on.